Siri’s co-creator hits back at claims Siri was broken from launch
“In the wake of a recent damning report, suggesting that Siri is broken, and has pretty much been that way since the start, Siri’s co-founder Dag Kittlaus has hit back at one of the article’s claims,” Luke Dormehl reports for Cult of Mac.
“What he disagrees with is a quote from former Apple executive Richard Williamson, who left the company in 2012 following the disastrous launch of Apple Maps,” Dormehl reports. “‘After launch, Siri was a disaster,’ Williamson was quoted as saying in The Information‘s Siri profile. ‘It was slow, when it worked at all. The software was riddled with serious bugs. Those problems lie entirely with the original Siri team, certainly not me.’ On Twitter, Kittlaus responded…”
This statement, wholly false, was made by the architect and head of the biggest launch disaster in Apple history, Apple Maps. In reality Siri worked great at launch but, like any new platform under unexpectedly massive load, required scaling adjustments and 24 hour workdays.
“While everyone seems to agree that Siri had a few teething problems early on, though, Richard Williamson’s comments raised the ire of notable tech journalist and Apple writer Steven Levy,” Dormehl reports. “‘That quote is kind of amazing,’ he writes. ‘Even if true (and I believe Dag) brazenly pushing blame to someone else for a product you were responsible for is a very bad look.'”
